“Ugh?”
Northern’s hoarse voice rang out with an almost intimidating thickness.
He grimaced at Raven.
She had looked stunned for a second, but now she was smiling with her eyes.
Then she said, “You see, Northern…” A vein was almost popping out of her jaw. “When I say I knocked someone out… Northern, they cannot… it is impossible for them to wake up in just ten hours. Perhaps you’d want to go over to the rock there to see how they are doing?”
She pointed to the far side of the cave, barreled and cornered by large rocks here and there.
His eyes followed her hand and came back to her. His frown slowly relaxed, then he gulped and looked away.
“I… I think I’ll pass.”
“Change then,” Raven said and turned away. Immediately, her black armor began to shatter into white sparks of light.
It took less than three seconds. Northern could see her entire back view.
He swung his head away instantly, face burning red.
‘What the hell?!’
He wanted to scream at her, but suddenly remembered how absurd this was looking. Technically speaking, even though he didn’t feel older than her or seem so, he was.
The moment he had given his embarrassment a voice would have been the moment where he realized how much of a senile old fool he was being.
Barely even thinking about it made him a thousand times more embarrassed.
But seriously though, what was the deal with the girl?
Who randomly takes off their clothes in front of a guy?
“Aren’t you going to change?”
Northern turned to look at Terence, a turmoil of hotness flushed his entire body the moment he laid eyes on her.
She was… uh… naked!
Trying to wear the pants into her second leg, her small breast, ahem, was so stalwart that it stood diligently on her chest despite her bending.
Northern, in an even faster swing, shot his eyes away, hurrying back into the cave away from them.
Was it because it was dark? Did they think he wouldn’t see that clearly?
What exactly had left them to freely change in front of him?
Meanwhile, Terence paused, blinking. Then she looked down at her chest.
Her face went blank in that instant.
‘He didn’t see us, did he?’ A pale smile appeared on her face. ‘No, that can’t be, he shouldn’t be able to see clearly to that extent.’
She was right, usually, it should take a source of light for anyone to even see anything in this pitch darkness, but not Northern!
He could have been able to slightly see her hair due to its color. She could even see his and the dim glow of his eyes.
Which was why she was even more uncomfortable.
Northern could really have seen them!
The poor guy, in the darkness, dispelled his armor and wore the mundane one he was given.
After a while, he walked out of the cave, putting on a blank face, one trying to be void of emotion.
And since it was pretty dark, it was easy.
“You’re done, let’s go then,” Raven said.
Then they began to go further, passing a rocky scape. Soon, their environs began to change from the rocky scape to a terrain of low brown grasses.
Northern looked at his clothes again. He had been looking at it since they started moving.
Mundane was not the word for this… it was practically a rag.
He looked down at himself again, examining the supposed leather armor and dismayed by its shoddy construction.
The seams were uneven, resembling the erratic scribbles of a child’s drawing rather than the precise stitches of a skilled artisan.
Loose threads dangled like forgotten tendrils, betraying the haste with which it had been assembled.
It was a testament to a rugged and inexperienced craftsmanship, each imperfection a battle scar in its own right.
“I’m quite shocked…” he raised his head and looked at Raven. “What those guys were donned with items instead of mundane armor.”
Raven retorted indifferently, walking.
“It makes no difference… a little difference maybe, since they’d have suffered more and my entire hands could be drenched in their blood.”
Northern’s face froze, his legs also did. He watched Raven uncaredly walk forward.
‘How? How can she be so vile?!!’
Quickly he took his steps and caught up.
He spared one more glance at Raven and gulped.
‘Man, I’m beginning to have thoughts.’
After a while of walking, they were now in what looked like a forest.
But compared to the forest of Lotheliwan, this one was dry, just a woodland.
Its trees were titanic and eerily intimidating, especially since they looked like they were hanging down from the grey sky.
They had no leaves or any sort, nothing to show for their years of growth, except for their pressuring heights.
Northern looked up, as more of these trees began to sprawl into their views.
It was really hard to tell how tall they went, even with his extraordinary eyes.
It really was as though the trees hung down from the sky. freewebnvel.coɱ
“Don’t try to look at it too much… they’d infect your mind.”
Northern lowered his head and raised a brow at Raven.
“What do you mean they will infect my mind?”
She uttered to him nonchalantly, “Haven’t you seen or heard of mind attacks before?”
Northern grimaced a little.
“Yes, I have, but what does it have to do with this? They are trees.”
“Yes, they are trees, but they are not ordinary trees…” she continued as they walked. “If you stare too much at the top, trying to discern the tip, you’ll fall into its trap.”
She paused, and added, “Many have gone lost in this forest… it’s a mystery… but Afkon and his generals think this tree might not just be a tree but host to a monster.”
Northern’s expression paled, he focused on her and said,
“Host to a monster? How?”
“How else?” She paused and looked around. “All these trees, Northern, it is highly possible that they have been infected by monsters, as many as them, or it could be a single monster.”
Northern’s mouth fell.
“What the hell… are you saying?”